Inequality 'increasing in cities'

A new report challenges the idea that there's more inequality in Australia's regions than in the cities as Labor vows to fight the next election on the issue.

As Bill Shorten gears up for a federal election fight on inequality, new research has poured cold water on the idea Australia's regions are more disadvantaged than its cities.

The Grattan Institute working paper released on Wednesday shows income growth and employment rates are not obviously worse in regional areas.

In fact, inequality has increased more in cities than regions.

Average incomes are higher in the cities but income growth per person over the past 10 years in the regions has kept pace with income growth in the cities, the report said.

The think tank's examination of incomes, jobs and demographics across Australia over the past decade is part of a yet-to-be-released wider study into why voters, particularly in regional electorates, are increasingly opting for minor parties.

"These voting patterns are being used to justify all kinds of policy changes such as increased income redistribution, more spending on regional development, tighter migration controls and more intrusive security regulation," the report said.

"But these policies and proposals are all based on assumptions about what is really driving voting patterns."

Opposition Leader Mr Shorten has put inequality on the agenda in recent weeks, decrying the gap between those living in major cities and regions and vowing to tackle the problem if elected prime minister.

He's blamed inequality for driving many Australians to vote for minor parties like One Nation, "down the low road of blaming minorities and promising to turn back the clock".

The report found that regional areas in Western Australia, South Australia, the Northern Territory and north Queensland typically have above-average incomes while most regional areas in NSW, Victoria, Tasmania and southern Queensland had below-average incomes.

Unemployment was not obviously worse in regions compared to cities.

Most immigrants to Australia settled in major cities, the report said, while people in cities tended to have higher levels of education than those in the regions.


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Source: AAP


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